Islamabad: The Pakistan army today said militants of the feared Haqqani network based in the North Waziristan tribal region will also be targeted during the ongoing military operation in the restive region.
Major General Asim Bajwa, military spokesman, told a media briefing at army headquarters that so far 327 terrorists and 10 soldiers were killed in the offensive launched on June 15.
"For the military, there will be no discrimination among Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) groups or Haqqani network, all terror groups are going to be eliminated," Bajwa said.
Haqqanis are from the Afghan Taliban and have been allegedly based in North Waziristan for years.
They were involved in some of the most lethal attacks inside Afghanistan.
Bajwa said Uzbeks and other foreign militants in North Waziristan were a threat to security of the country.
He said that all of them will be crushed by the army.
Bajwa said the operation was conducted only by Pakistan army and no foreign country or forces were involved in it.
The senior military official also said that Pakistan had asked Afghanistan to take military action against militants.? "We requested the Afghan military to take action against terrorist hideouts in Kunar and Nuristan, but so far there has been no action taken," Bajwa said.
He rejected the reports and impression that the military launched the operation in disregarding opinion of the government which wanted to have peace talks with the militants.
"The operation was launched after a decision was made at the political level," he said.
